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IBM developerWorks: The security implications of open source software

"To some, closed source means hidden, secret -- and more secure.
In reality, many of the most secure systems available today are
based on the open source model."

"Traditionally, secrecy has meant security. You lock up your
house, your automobile, your valuables. In the software community,
you "lock up" the programming source code as a means of securing it
against hackers and competitors. To the closed source camp, a
system can't be truly secure when its source is open for all to
read. Secrecy is security, and when applied to an otherwise secure
system, concealing the source improves the security. It slows up
intruders and, in the event of a breech, keeps damages at a
minimum. Another argument is that with freely available blueprints,
crackers will have it easy writing malicious code to attack
systems."

"What, then, about the security of open source software?
Open source software, by definition, is any program or application
that is freely distributed, non-platform specific -- and in which
the programming code is open and visible. All else being equal,
isn't a closed program more secure than an open one?"